Return to Fluid Spheres Lesson Sequence

The Change from Solar to Wind Energy

State Standards: GLEs/GSEs

The earth is part of the solar system, made up of distinct parts that have temporal and spatial interrelationships.
ESS1 (ext.)-3 Students demonstrate an understanding of processes and change over time within earth system by
3aa describing how interaction of wind patterns, ocean currents, and mountain ranges results in a global pattern of latitudal bands of rain, forests, and deserts.

National Standards:

12DESS1.3 Heating of earth’s surface and atmosphere by the sun drives convection within the atmosphere and oceans, producing winds and ocean currents.

Context of Lesson:

To introduce the idea that the Sun plays the most significant role in controlling our Earth’s weather system and annual climates; its interaction with the atmosphere is unique. To display the sources of energy that feed major weather/system patterns, such as wind, clouds, waves, and convection zones.
Students will be presented with dilemmas to encourage critical thinking of finding the sources of energy that drive Earth’s weather.

Opportunities to Learn:

Depth of Knowledge:

Prerequisite Knowledge:

Assume little to no knowledge on winds or waves. Introductory lesson.

Plans for Differentiating Instruction:

Incorporating a reader response for verbal learners and for students who are shy. Visual notes will be drawn on the board along with verbal student-teacher discussions.

Accommodations and modifications:

Lesson will be modified and/or slowed down with more examples of students are not understanding materials. Worksheets will be made after lesson as a review for today's lesson.

Environmental factors:

Materials

globe
Reader Response
Handout of page 300 in The Blue Planet X 2 (will need two copies for each student)
a copy of page 301 TEACHER REFERENCE ONLY
for my own records, review these sites:
http://ggweather.com/enso/years.htm
http://iri.columbia.edu/climate/ENSO/background/pastevent.html#list
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/gcg/RTN/rtnt.html
[[http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/1997.html ]]< click on economic implications
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/el.nino/strange.brew/
figure 11.1 found on Pg. 242 of The Blue Planet (handout is optional)
Worksheet 1 Change from Solar to Wind handout

Objectives:

You will be able to

• describe the role of the sun on Earth as a closed system
• distinguish between climate and weather
• describe what a convection zone is
• describe why we have seasons
• describe why and how clouds, wind, and rain form
• identify where the energy of wind comes from
• describe Hadley cells
• read and understand your notes, which will summarize what you learned in class today

Instruction:

• First, make sure all students can see the board. If they can't, have them move to where they can.
• I'm assuming we are all quite familiar with wind and we all know what it is. Draw the image you think of when you think of wind. I will use them later in class as illustrations. Name is optional. Be creative. 4 minutes.

Opening:

• Activity 1: Students are driven to find an answer to the simple question, “Where do waves come from?”

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• Question 1 posed: Has anyone ever taken up surfing/sailing? Possibly tell my story of starfish experience.
• Question 2 posed: What causes you to move while on a surfboard? How about for sailing?
  • Expected Answer: Wind is the driving force for both.
• Question 3 posed: Could we all agree that wind is pushing the sailboat? What about the surfer? Does the wind push the surfer along or or it something else?
  • Encourage student discussion on this matter.
  • Expected Conclusion: Wind creates waves and (as a surfer, or sailor) one is harnessing this energy to move ourselves.
• Question 4 posed: Where does wind come from? What is its "driving force?"
  • Go through student drawings and ask students if any of the pictures hint at what might be causing the wind.
    • Lead the discussion by stating If earth is a closed system, no energy is ever created or destroyed (Newton's 1st law), then where does this energy come from? Does it come from the clouds like the picture drawn depicts?
      • Hint (if needed): Where does our main source of energy come from?
      • Expected Answer: Students will hopefully do some probing and eventually guess the sun.
      • We have discovered that there is more to wind than we first thought.
      • Take out a picture that has the sun drawn on it (if there is one) and point out that this drawing is a good one.
• Question 5 posed: How does the sun create wind? Or how is heat energy transferred into this kinetic energy?

Does everyone understand when I use the word heat and kinetic? Now would be the time to ask.

• _ involves a series of steps:
• 1. The atmosphere is unevenly heated.
  • Question: Where can this be viewed?
    • Expected Answers show proof for this fact: two different locations in the world, two different parts of RI have different temperatures.
• 2. A parcel of air becomes warmer than its surroundings, making its molecules increase in speed.
  
  • Temperature is just a measure of energy of the molecules in the system.
    • HERE, ALLOW EACH STUDENT TO pick a gas molecule they would like to be (one of the 6 main gases in the atmosphere) must fit in to 78% of class in N2, 20% is O2 argon is .93% or 1% and CO2, Ne, He, CH4, Kr, N20, H2, and O3 are .04%) [found on page 274 of The Blue Planet]. Someone should be the sun too. Now students will stand up from their desks (perhaps move desks aside, and act out what happens when the sun comes in).
• 3. More motion amongst the molecules makes it less dense, and the air appears to rise.
  • Question: Can anyone think of an example where warm air appears to rise?
  • Expected answers show proof for #2 fact: hot air balloon, top-story of house (attic) being warmer than the bottom level
  • Scientific answer: Molecules are warmer, which means they are vibrating faster than cooler molecules. Since they are moving faster and hitting one another (have more energy), they can cover more space in a less amount of time, and therefore are more spread apart. Taking up more area with the same amount of molecules makes it less dense, so cool air, which has molecules closer together, falls below this warm air making it appear to rise.
    
  • another way of explaining is: The fundamental physical property behind it is density. As hot air contain atoms and molecules with higher kinetic energy than cold air. As a result it has a lower density, and the cold air goes downwards.
    
  • What actually happens is the cooler air replaces the less dense air. Cold air sinks.
• 3. As the warm air is lifted by the cold air through the atmosphere, it expands.
  • At higher elevations, air experiences a lower pressure. Since less force is pushing on the molecules, it allows more room to expand. (Of lesser importance: as temperature increases, volume increases because if the Ideal Gas Law).
    
  • HAVE THEM PICTURE AIR AS A FLUID WITH BOILING WATER.
• 4. As this expansion and rising takes place, cooler air flows to replace the heated air.

• Question : Where else on the earth do warmer areas replace colder areas. Hint, it is something else besides air.

• Expected answer: some plate boundaries
• Scientific answer: convection- the process by which hot, less dense materials is replaced by cold, dense, material flowing downward to create a flow of material

• Only after these steps are discussed can I introduce the first vocabulary word Circulation in the blank line above steps 1-4.
• If this is a naturally occurring process, then it must be able to be observed somewhere.
• State to students that it is agood time to write in your notes these steps because they may not be up again.
  • Allow some wait time for students to get out their notebooks.
  • Have students draw a picture next to their notes on circulation and convection to help them remember it.

• Expected conclusion: Circulation of air via the sun is what drives the wind.

• Question 6 posed: How does this solve our surfing problem? In other words, how do waves form from winds?

• Have students tell me the steps leading to circulation. As they tell me the steps I will draw on the board so they can copy in their notes.
  • Sun heats earth's atmosphere unevenly --> some air rises --> cooler air sweeps in to replace heated air ---> this creates wind --> friction of air pushes against surface of water and pulls the water --> this creates little ripples--> and ultimately waves

• Question 7 posed: What would be some weather characteristics surfers might depend on? wind speed, temperature. See if anyone is more educated on surfing than I am so they can help.
  • Fun Fact: The highest wind speed ever recorded on earth is 231 mi/h on Mt. Washington, NH in April 1934

Engagement: Why Should we care about wind patterns?

• Activity 2: An introduction to Indonesia: Reader Response.

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• Ask the class to give some leniency in the next topic. Inform the class that this next activity may seem like a bit of a jump in topics, but that it is interrelated with studying wind patterns and it must be addressed early on in the class so we can refer back to it in later class periods.
• Pass out this handout found at the following hyperlink:
  • CNN 1997
    • 1997, (CNN) -- The village of Pringluan nestles in the eroded hills along the southern coast of Central Java, one of a necklace of islands left without water as Indonesia's worst drought in 50 years takes hold. For villagers it brings back horrific memories of the last great drought in 1962, when they survived on boiled barks and rats. They say all they can do now is pray for rain. Across Indonesia, more than 250 people have died of famine or cholera blamed on lack of clean water.
    • Thousands of miles away, on the other side of the Pacific, it's a different but equally devastating story. Chile, normally one of the world's most arid areas, is being pummeled by its worst rainstorm in a decade. Floods and landslides have killed 18 people and uprooted some 60,000. Some five countries across Latin America have declared national emergencies or states of heightened alert.
      
• Have a student volunteer to read the article (taken from last webiste listed in materials, link below as well).
• Have them take out important facts that stick out to them and write them on a sheet of paper they will hand in after reading such as...
  • Write on board the following questions:
    • What do you think this article is talking about?
    • What stands out to you?
    • Do you think this is part of their regular climate or part of something else? Give a specific example from the text to support your reasoning.
    • Are there any clues that would hint to what might have caused this disaster?
• Collect entries after giving ample time for student responses.
• Announce that in our next couple classes we will discover what is driving this massive change.
• Discuss the article out loud by first making sure everyone understood the article by having a student(s) explain it.

• Activity 3: Next, examine some other effects of the environment together.

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• 1. Take the climate of Indonesia. Where is it located and what is the climate like there?
  • A student can come point to it on the globe. See if they have an idea of the climate there.
  • World travel guide says- tropical, monsoons (wind that brings heavy rainstorms, hurricane), have a wet and dry season mean temp around 80 degrees F; on equator
• 2. What is the difference between their climate and weather patterns?
  • Have students distinguish between climate (long term averages) and weather (short term); remind them about sun’s rotation if necessary.

We can revisit Indonesia and climate change see web.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071130170615.htm

• Activity 4: In order to understand what was going on in Indonesia, we have to know how do rains and clouds form.

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• Ask students to tell me about how clouds and rain form.
  • If they do not know, quick review of
    • sun’s energy heating up molecules to create sublimination of water molecules (evaporation) aerosols as tiny particles to act as a surface for water molecules (in gas state) to now accumulate on a dot. When enough moleucles they stick to gether or coalesce and finally raindrop forms. One raindrop = about 1 million cloud droplets = rain

• Activity 5: Relating everything we learned today to wind patterns.

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• Now that we have some examples of weather versus climate and how rainstorms form, lets move back to wind patterns.
• Start with a story of discovery of Hawaii by Polyensians in small canoes with sails. The Polyensians zig-zagged up north till reached Hawaii via wind patterns. Their path involved crossing the equator and making use of the tradewinds. Somewhow, by observing winds and currents, ancient navigarors could get their geographic position.
  • More Detail about Polynesians: Sailing their canoes actually made use of 3 wind systems. Havai'i (present day Raiatea, part of Society Islands) is located in SE tradewinds belt, where winds come from SE. It is also where W-flowing ocean current that lies just S of equator. Therefore their voyage started sailing somewhat East of North across belt until passing the equator. Then light winds and an E-flow current was passed. Then, farther N, they encountered NE tradewinds, then aother W-flowing current system that carried it NW toward Hawaii (pg 241 The Blue Planet).
  • A figure (11.1) can be found on page 242 that shows Polynesians path along with respective currents.
• Question 1 posed: Near the equator, What would you expect climate to be?

• Write student answers on the board.

• Question 2 posed: Using our information about warm areas, what happens to the air molecules in a warm air?

• Expected Answer: They vibrate and rise since air molecules are moving faster. Results in the rising of air.
• Something specific happens at the equator that is different that at the poles. Can anyone guess what it is?
  • A hint is that the reason is why waves exist and why wind exists.
    • Have students ponder this and perhaps help them visualize with a globe.
• Expected answer (with some probing of course): The sun heats the equator (since it is a sphere it heats the equator more than the poles) and heat wants to travel to a cooler place, so uneven heating of the atmosphere causes wind to start from the equator and blow towards the poles, which are called Hadley Cells.
• Question 3 posed:__ Why would hadley cells be a convection zone? (Think about what we learned about convection, what is it? look at your picture you drew in your notes)
  • First, handout two copies of figure 13.11 (without arrows) and draw a replica on the board. Draw an entire convection zone together and remind them to hold onto this worksheet because we will be using it in the future. Have them write in the margins something that will summarize this picture. Once we agree on what to write, I will write in on the board too.
  • Next, tell them this is not the whole story because the convection zone stops at 30 degrees north and south. Using pg 301 from the blue planet as a guide, start students drawing a circle for their earth and then add in the first convection zone. Can anyone guess why the circulation might stop here?
• 
  
• Introduce Hadley cells.
  
  • a convection zone that starts at the equator and ends at about 30 degrees N and S of the equator in latitude.
    
  • Have them write this on their second copy and write the definition of Hadley cells on the board.

Closure:

Next class, will discover what makes the Hadley cells stop here.

homework

• Watch website and be prepared to give input about it in class next time
  • The World Bank - Climate Change- Indonesia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44S5sYWpwHE
ANDdo the Change from Solar to Wind worksheet

Assessment:

• Ask students to go over main points and have them look in their notes to tell me if they have written down what was went over. If one student does not have a definition, have a student that does read it. This will also tell me if students were able to follow the ideas in class or not.
• Also require they have a folder in the future for handouts. Put the date on top and their name.

Reflections

(only done after lesson is enacted)
Student Work Sample 1 – Approaching Proficiency:
Student Work Sample 2 – Proficient:
Student Work Sample 3 – Exceeds Proficiency: